HELSINKI – Kalervo Kummola has been the chairman of the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation since 1997, but his career in Finnish top hockey can be traced back to the mid-1970s when he served as the CEO of the newly-founded SM-liiga – and doubling as the CEO of the federation for a couple of years in the early 1980s.

He’s been on the board of the Finnish federation since 1975, and is currently also in the IIHF Council as a vice-president.  

In short, he has a lifetime of working for Finnish hockey behind him. Now he says he sees the end approaching.

Not today, not even tomorrow, since he’s current term runs through 2010, but one day. But before that, he also is interested in having a say about the future.

“Maybe in 2012, when Finland hosts the World Championship, that would be a good timing to pass the torch. My successor should represent the next generation, and be an international fellow. It probably wouldn’t hurt if he had a background as a player, too,” Kummola said in an interview last week.

While that may seem like a vague job description, Kummola also let it slip that he’d like to see somebody like Saku Koivu as the new head honcho of the Finnish federation.

While Koivu himself expressed cautious interest to working on a high level of hockey after his active career, he also noted that 2012 is a long time away. The fact that the Team Finland – remember Sweden 1995 and Turin 2006? – and Montreal Canadiens legend – Koivu is currently the second-longest serving Canadiens captain behind just Jean Beliveau – would take the job as the leader of Finnish hockey prompted a warm welcome in the country.

“Saku has proved during his career as a player that he is a great leader both on the ice and in the dressing room. Everybody knows who he is. His career is already a long and accomplished one, and I think he’d be an excellent leader for Finnish hockey. I’m sure he’d have a lot to give,” said Juha Junno, the CEO of Kärpät Oulu.

During the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Koivu was elected to the Athletes' Commission of the International Olympic Committee, something that Kummola sees as a good stepping stone, and a chance to get to learn the atmosphere of international sports politics.

“Saku would be an excellent and competent choice. I’m not sure how long he’ll keep on playing, but the IOC will give him good experience, and it was great that we got him in there for the next eight years,” he says.

Besides his legacy as a Team Finland captain, Koivu may have just proved his suitability to the job by the way he reacted to the current discussion.

“It’s very possible that I will work with and for hockey in some capacity, but what I’ll do, is another question. I hope that “Kale” has a few years left as the chairman of the federation, and that I have a few years left as a player,” he said.

We’ve seen many club owner-players in the world before – like Mario Lemieux in the NHL and Sami Kapanen currently in Finland – but how about a playing chairman of the federation?

With Koivu, we might have to wait until Sochi 2014 to see.

RISTO PAKARINEN